GE Invests in 20-Megawatt Solar Greenhouse Project in Italy

Oct. 18 (Bloomberg) -- General Electric Co., the world’s
biggest maker of power-generating equipment, invested $58
million to build a greenhouse on the Italian island of Sardinia
that will use the sun’s energy to provide power to the national
grid as well as to grow crops.

The Su Scioffu project in Villasor, Italy, a venture with
Moser Baer India Ltd., began generating electricity Aug. 30
after the first five megawatts of a planned 20 megawatts of
capacity became operational, according to a statement today by
both companies. The rest is scheduled to start up this month.

GE has invested almost $1 billion of equity and debt in 46
solar power plants in six countries. The company, based in
Fairfield, Connecticut, has spent $6 billion on a portfolio of
renewable projects, including solar, wind, biomass and hydro and
geothermal power assets, according to its website.

“Solar has continued to be a very interesting space for us
in Europe,” Andrew Marsden, a managing director and European
leader of the company’s GE Energy Financial Services unit, said
yesterday in an interview. “We are currently talking to Moser
Baer about more projects in India and Europe.”

The Su Scioffu project will add about 90 jobs in Villasor,
a community of 7,000 people near Cagliari, supporting both the
local economy and the agricultural sector, according to the
statement. Moser Baer Clean Energy Ltd., the development unit of
India’s second-largest maker of solar cells, will jointly own
the greenhouse, which will be on 66 acres (27 hectares).

U.S., Canada

Sumeet Bidani, head of business development for Moser Baer
in North America, said the company expects to replicate the
greenhouse design in the U.S. and Canada.

“Anywhere there’s competition for land between agriculture
and other needs, this dual-use greenhouse allows light to
penetrate while producing power efficiently,” Bidani said today
in an interview at the Solar Power International conference in
Dallas.

The electricity generated by the Su Scioffu project is
enough to power about 10,000 Italian homes, GE said.

“We like the way the project supports jobs in
agriculture,” Marsden said. “There is a stronger emphasis in
Europe on not using arable land and encouraging building-mounted
solar.”

Italy, which last year installed more solar power capacity
than any other country except Germany, has set a target of
reaching 23 gigawatts of capacity by 2016, according to the GE
statement.

Trina Solar Ltd. and other companies are providing solar
panels for the project, Marsden said. Additional financial
details of the project weren’t disclosed.